The Forever Games

The Forever Games

EPISODE 004

Jan 25, 2023

Mitch and Blake discuss how the rise of games-as-services has privileged durable, long-duration play-patterns -- leading to the modern idea of the "Forever Game" which can persist for decades. Mitch outlines his five attributes of long-term engagement and provides examples of each from games like Ultima OnlineWorld of WarcraftAge of Empires, and League of Legends.


They look at the two distinct strands of long-duration play that emerged in the 1990s -- the massively-multiplayer online role-playing game and the session-based online competitive game -- and how those genres evolved and cross-pollinated to produce multi-billion dollar online games that have remained viable for a decade or more.


SHOW LINKS

Bill Gurley on LTV

Island of Kesmai

Bran Ferren

I/ITSEC

The Assassination of Lord British

Lineage

AoE2: Red Bull Wololo 2022

WoW

Fortnite

Mitch and Blake discuss how the rise of games-as-services has privileged durable, long-duration play-patterns -- leading to the modern idea of the "Forever Game" which can persist for decades. Mitch outlines his five attributes of long-term engagement and provides examples of each from games like Ultima OnlineWorld of WarcraftAge of Empires, and League of Legends.


They look at the two distinct strands of long-duration play that emerged in the 1990s -- the massively-multiplayer online role-playing game and the session-based online competitive game -- and how those genres evolved and cross-pollinated to produce multi-billion dollar online games that have remained viable for a decade or more.


SHOW LINKS

Bill Gurley on LTV

Island of Kesmai

Bran Ferren

I/ITSEC

The Assassination of Lord British

Lineage

AoE2: Red Bull Wololo 2022

WoW

Fortnite

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